Asteroid no harbinger of Eagles' doom

Hafner’s article on the asteroid passing near earth on Super Bowl Sunday, included the statement that its arrival time would precede Tom Brady’s crushing of the Eagles’ hopes in the Super Bowl.

Unless Mr. Hafner has some inside information or a crystal ball, or both, perhaps he should stick to reporting NASA facts. Hopefully, Mr. Hafner’s apology to Eagles fans will be published on Feb. 5.

Lillian Pfeifer

Wilmington

Trump in 2020

All the negative comments about President Trump in The News Journal and on the fake news network TV channels is enough to make you throw up.

What is wrong with these people? We finally have a man who is probably going to go down in history as the greatest president ever. Thank God we don't have Hillary as president, and thank god we got rid of the failed experiment Obama.

Finally, we can get down to making America great again.

Just take every failed state in the USA run by Dems, including Delaware. Maybe we can right the ship.

I hope so, and I know Donald J. Trump is just the man to do it — when the minions who keep clowning the president get their bonus from companies paying them more money in their paycheck because of Mr. Trump's historic tax plan, they can give it back to the government to help with the national debt.

Trump in 2020!

John R. Kriskie

Newark

Shoe's on the other foot on shutdown

Republican conservatives triggered a 2013 government shutdown in a last-ditch effort to block Obamacare. They were roundly castigated by Democrats and the media.

The shoe now appears to be on the other foot, with Democrats seeking to block the government’s budget until the terms of a legislative replacement for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy are established to their satisfaction.

A recent editorial linked the current shutdown to a supposedly unconscionable delay in reauthorizing the Children’s Health[care] Insurance Program. However, a six-year reauthorization of CHIP was included in the continuing resolution that Senate Democrats blocked on January 19.

As for the statement that “the program costs only $800 million,” the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that it costs some $15 billion per year.

The DACA/budget linkage seems blatantly opportunistic. Note that the government budget for fiscal year 2018 is nearly four months late at this point, whereas the DACA deadline won’t roll around until March 5th.

Pontification about Congress being “utterly broken” and needing to “remember how to compromise” doesn’t seem constructive. Politics is a messy process, and a reasoned assessment of comparative fault is needed.

Let’s hope the News Journal will rise to the challenge.

William Whipple III

Middletown

Road closures are hurting businesses

The Doghouse and other businesses are landmarks of New Castle. The more construction and road closures have cut our business in half.

Employees are losing their jobs and hours because of road closures. We cannot keep them on.

We would like to know why Delaware does not consider businesses that are cut off from travelers and local residents. Most locals do not have enough time to make it to our store and back to their job.

I would like to know how or what Delaware is going to do for businesses that end up going under. Maybe we need to have The News Journal talk to you and explain to these businesses on how we are not considered when construction is in play, and what Delaware is going to do to help Delaware businesses recover major loss of income and employees.

Darlene Spence

New Castle

Social services are inadequate

Delaware social services are gravely inadequate for the community. There are people with disabilities who are too symptomatic to work, yet cannot get support because they are considered too young or too educated.

There is a waiting list for people who need assistance to help them stay independent and a pool of candidates at Division of Vocational Rehabilitation who need part-time work. Why not match them up? We need services to be efficient and help the community.

Sam Davis

Newark

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